Delayed Confessional
by Kairi and Cloud
Summary: Confessions of love could wait. She didn't have to respond yet. There would be time later, all the time in the world.


**Cloud:** To start this off, I'd like to say that I'm not a fan of NaruSaku. Not in the least. But I got this idea randomly during AP U.S. History and I couldn't sit around and not write. It was just too tempting. -laughs- Anyways, my dearest cousin Pablo better be happy. Ehh, I might as well dedicate this to her, seeing as how she loves this pairing...I think.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own.

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It all seemed like slow motion to her, and yet it happened so fast that she couldn't do anything to stop it. It was unbearable to watch, and yet she couldn't take her eyes away. It was as if she was frozen, and all that she could do was stand and watch, her emerald eyes wide with horror.

The brilliant blue light of chidori illuminated both the silver blade and ruthless crimson eyes. Eyes that stared coldly into familiar blue eyes. Neither moved an inch.

"...I forgive you." the blonde said quietly.

The raven-haired shinobi suddenly leapt at the blonde, who stood still and silent. The light from the jutsu was so blinding that the sense of sight was useless. But there was no mistaking the sound of a sickening crunch, the sound of blood splashing onto the ground, and the heart-wrenching sound of an awful groan of utmost pain. The light of chidori fizzled away to reveal that the blonde was impaled upon the raven's blade.

"You didn't dodge..." he said slowly. "How...disappointing."

Without a trace of regret, he kicked the blue-eyed shinobi away and yanked back his sword, tearing the blonde's wound even larger before he completely slide off of the blade and onto the ground.

"And I never asked you for forgiveness." the red-eyed shinobi stated coldly.

"You didn't have to..." the blonde responded faintly, a tear rolling down his blood-splattered cheek.

Not another word was said. Without warning Sasuke fled from the scene. Time then seemed to right itself, and without a moment of hesitation she ran to her fallen comrade.

"Naruto!" she shrieked as she skidded to a halt and fell to her knees at his side. The sword had pierced his left side, tearing a hole through flesh and muscles and shattering multiple rib bones. It was a horrid injury, and yet she was confident that she could heal it. With the help of Kyuubi's chakra, he would survive. He had lived through worse.

"It's going to be okay, Naruto..." she reassured him as she quickly pressed her palms over the bloody injury. Bright green chakra began to pour from her hands into the wound. "You're going to be fine."

The corners of his mouth turned into a sad smile, "Things will get better once I am gone."

"Naruto!" she chided, her eyebrows knit together in surprise and shock. "Why would you say such a thing? There's no way that you are going to die. I won't let that happen."

"But if I die..." he coughed, blood erupting from his mouth in a sickening way that almost made her flinch, despite her medical experience. "If I die..Kyuubi dies with me. Akatsuki...can never rise to full power without him. You all...Konoha...will have a fighting chance."

"Don't say that! You aren't going to die here. Not in this way. I won't let that happen!" she replied, her green eyes focused diligently on the massive wound, trying to ignore the blood pooling around them.

"Please...don't waste your chakra," he said with a smile. And yet the look was full of suffering. It had at best one-eighth of the usual radiance of his grin. A pained smile. The smile of someone at the end of their life. The smile of someone embracing a painful and sorrowful death.

"Don't put on a fake smile for me, you baka! And stop talking so much! You need to save your strength!" she ground out between clenched teeth, her head pounding as she poured more glowing chakra into the young man's large injury. Blood was still flowing freely. It seemed as if the wound almost didn't want to close.

_'Why isn't this working? This should at least be doing something! Why isn't this working?!' _ she thought to herself.

"You're wonderful, Sakura. You know that...right?"

The calm, sincere nature of his words made her freeze, her eyes wide. She looked down into his lovely blue eyes. They hadn't lost their sparkle. The beauty of those cerulean orbs wasn't dulled by his life-threatening wounds. They were hauntingly blue, and as breathtaking as ever.

"Naruto," she whispered, her eyes beginning to fill with tears for reasons that she could not explain. He wasn't going to die. What was there to cry about? He wasn't going to die.

He reached up slowly and wiped a tear from her pale face with a calloused thumb. The ghost of a true smile was upon his pale, whiskered face. "You've...always been there...when I needed you most."

"Don't say such things, Naruto. You make it sound like you really are going to die. But that isn't going to happen. I won't let you die here."

"Just like I won't let Kyuubi help heal me?" he asked before coughing on the blood that had collected in his mouth.

"Naurto! Don't do this, don't say things like that!" she cried out, pounding even more chakra into what was once a strong, able body.

"I always have...and I always will..." he started to say, his voice soft and sad.

"You always have what?"

"Loved you. I've loved you since I met you, and I'll keep on loving you, even in death...I love you, Sakura, more than life itself." he said softly, reaching up yet again to brush a stray pink strand of hair behind her ear.

She closed her eyes, putting Naruto's claim of his undying love out of her thoughts. Confessions of love could wait. She didn't have to respond yet. There would be time later, all the time in the world.

_'As soon as he heals a bit more I'll...' _she started to think. But her thought process was quickly replaced as her brain began to scream the same two words over and over again.

_'...No pulse. No pulse! No pulse!!!'_

"Naruto!" she screamed, still pounding chakra into his wound. "Naurto, don't do this! Don't die on me!"

Pain clenched at her heart and tore it to shreds. Realization crashed on her like a tsunami. She had failed. Naruto was gone.

And she loved him.

She always had.

Since the day she first met him, without realizing it.

She loved him, and she always would.

"I love you!" she yelled, her eyes full of tears as she stared into his pale, unmoving face. "Please, hear me! I love you, Naruto! Please don't leave me! I love you so much!"

Her screams faded into pleading whispers, but her tears would not stop falling. It was too late for her to return his love. The love of her life was gone. Naruto was gone.

"I love you...I love you...please hear me say it now...please don't let it be too late..."

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**Cloud:** Well...I have ideas to continue this, or to write a follow-up, multi-chapter fic. But I need some opinions on whether or not it's worth writing. If you think I should continue this in some way, let me know. Anything that you found vague in this oneshot (because some things were left that way in case I decided to continue with the idea I have) I will be able to clear up for you if this continues. Everything that was included (like Sasuke) had it's relevance...I just didn't want to go too far into detail, or else give away spoilers for a fic that hasn't even been written. So please, review and give me your honest opinion. And let me know how I did on this too! -laughs- 


End file.
